ephemeral // matty healy

rejection, dejection, deception

Ronan met Blair at work the following Monday. He shook the rain off this shoulders as he moseyed to his desk.

"I haven't heard from you all week, you good?" He asked expectantly.

She pulled out an earbud. "Hmm? Oh yeah, totally."

"'Totally?'" He rolled his eyes. "Normally, we reach out over the weekend and this week I heard nothing! What were you doing?" He couldn't sit down because he would risk losing him momentum. He wasn't angry, but Ronan felt left out. The phone works two ways, but Blair could tell that if she pointed that fact out, she would make him feel worse.

"I've been getting my head on straight again, I guess. Felt sort of surreal to finally finish my first project back home."

"Feels good, yeah?" Blair nodded and she stood up to get coffee for two of them. She placed a warm mug on Ronan's desk as an olive branch, which he accepted when he inhaled the scent. Blair leaned on the edge of his desk.

"Matty and I kissed the other night," she said quietly and smoothly. Ronan's eyes opened wide over the edge of the coffee mug.

"You're joking."

"I'm not." Blair pressed her lips together as she crossed back to her desk and sunk into her chair. "And before you even ask, there's not much more to tell."

"Oh really?" Ronan asked in a facetious way. "Nothing at all?"

"Nope," she smiled from behind her computer.

-

Bo was at work when he felt his phone vibrate. He always kept it on, just in case his mother had an emergency. He snuck into an empty corridor to answer the phone, but was surprised to see that Stella was on the end of the line.

"Apricot and I are sitting in the park, panicking."

"Hello to you too," Bo smiled. "Why don't you tell me what you're panicking about."

"I'm not sure I want to." She admitted.

Bo breathed a small sigh, knowing that she wasn't being truthful. "Alright, we can stay on the line if you'd like."

They sat in silence for precisely three seconds before Stella continued. "I'm just thinking about going back to school."

"If it feels like the right thing to do, then it's the right thing to do. You're, like, the smartest person I know, Stella." He bounced his weight from foot to foot, hoping he wouldn't get caught on his phone during work hours.

"I am?" She swallowed. "What if I told you that I didn't get in?"

Bo hung his head and closed his eyes in defeat. "Oh no, did you hear already?" His words were full of sympathy.

 "Um, yes," she said quickly. "I don't know if it was ever the right thing for me." She laughed lightly.

"Stella, I know it means less coming from me, you'd probably rather hear this from the admission email, but I think you're going to do really great things. Don't give up hope just yet. An opportunity may come up for you when you least expect it." He smiled through the phone. "And Blair and I will support you no matter what you decide to do."

"You will?" She asked hopefully. Stella had already quietly put him on speakerphone to sift through her emails. Sitting at the top of her inbox was an unopened email, the subject line reading "Congratulations on your accep..."

"Of course we will. You mean so much to us. You, uh..." He stuttered for a moment. "You mean a lot to me."

"Thank you, Bo, you mean a lot to me as well." 

She let out a small chuckle and then looked at her park partner. "I'm sorry, I've got to run, Apricot is giving me the high sign that she's bored now."

"Of course, I'll talk to you soon," Bo said sweetly.

"Talk soon, love."